What are you most grateful for this year?
It was the PF Christmas party last week and we got together on Zoom so our team, which is spread out all over the world (UK, South Africa, Argentina, Lithuania…), could be together for it.
We shared Christmas gratitude (what we’re most grateful for at this time of year), opened secret Santa gifts for each other and talked about our own Christmas and holiday traditions.
We all recognise we have lots to be grateful for this Christmas, and all year round. Here are some of the things the team shared they’re especially thankful for this year…
– “Joy, freedom, friends to walk with and being able to go at your own pace.” – Jamie
– “Having had a healthy pregnancy and our new baby coming in the New Year.” – Katie
– “Finishing the year with a healthy body and mind.” – Ash
– “Family who make me food, coffee, give me hugs and share love and grace with me.” – Karen
– “My new, healthy baby nephew. And the people who work in public facing jobs, especially the NHS, for coming to work with a smile even when things are hard.” – Camilla
– “For being reminded that being kind to people does matter and people will support you when you ask for help.” – Kendall
– “For being able to spend Christmas with my family and for being a part of the PF team, which has been life changing.” – Simona
– “Hope. Hope that Christmas would be better this year, and I’ll see family next year. Also grateful for Bhryce and my newly extended family.” – Chryzia
– “For being part of PF, for Jonathan and Milan and to have the opportunity to make plans. I’m also thankful that all my family are healthy.” – StephieG
– “For the PF team and my family as support networks. I’m also grateful for new beginnings and fresh starts.” – Amy
– “For the progress I’ve made this year for myself.” – Elaine
– “For the people in my life who are there for me no matter where they are in the world. I really feel the love from the PF team and my family.” – Daly
– “For a mum who makes Christmas so magical and special every year, no matter what else is going on in her life. And for a family who love to spend time and Christmas with each other.” –
Your space for community and support
Being in the PF Lab community helps you to connect with other accountants and the PF team, share ideas, build relationships and try different things in your marketing.
All the coaching sessions, training videos and your 1:1 Momentum call with Karen is focused on what you as members share you need help and support with.
It’s about digging into and listening to what really matters to you.
You can still join Lab with our £795 special annual membership offer (usually £995)!
Here’s a reminder of the sessions you’ll kick of 2022 with (and you can read more about each one here):
Wednesday 19th January 2022 – In-person kick start for 2022 (Edinburgh)
February 2022 – How to stay connected to your remote working team
March 2022 – Your client journey: how to create it and how to make it unique to your firm
Join Lab and share with the community where you most need help and support with your marketing and what you’re excited about trying!
Team Christmas videos!
With a team spread across so many countries, we wanted to recognise the different cultures and traditions which each team member has over the festive period and while doing so, spread some cheer this Christmas!
Our ‘Be Merry’ with PF series gives you a glimpse into what Christmas looks like across 7 countries: Philippines, South Africa, Venezuela, England, Scotland, USA and Lithuania!
Enjoy!
Wins by Accelerator graduates
In the final Accelerator session, we asked those in the coaching group to share their victories from the last 12 weeks and here’s what they told us:
“I’ve had the realisation I can work ONLY with clients I want to work with, and do the work I really want to be doing.”
“I always thought I had to be everything to everyone…do all the accounting work to everybody who needed it. I was overwhelmed at the thought of having clients who I don’t know how to do the work for or it wasn’t the type of work I wanted to do. That changed when I came across PF and signed up for Accelerator. Now I know I don’t need to do it and I can actually turn away work.
If anyone is hesitating about doing Accelerator, DON’T… just sign up and do it – best decision I’ve made in a long time.” – Caroline Burns, Eight Accounting
“It’s given me the platform I needed to build my own marketing plan.”
“Before Accelerator, I didn’t know where to start with my marketing. There were too many things jumbled up in my head and I didn’t have any sort of plan. The live sessions and workbook have unlocked it all in my head and matched the dots together for me. I love how comfortable it is, you can chat with the other members, ask loads of questions and have great discussions.
“It’s also helped me to understand my website is about my clients and I need to stop talking about myself! Instead I need to show who my clients are and how I’m going to help them.
“I’d recommend anyone to do it. I’ve been in business for 2 years and if I did it again, I’d a million percent do this first. It will unlock everything for you. Even if you’ve been in business for a while, you’ve likely got lost in the work and your clients and you maybe aren’t doing the type of work you want to be doing. Press the reset button and go through the process from the start in Accelerator.” – Craig Parry, Affluent Accounting
“Accelerator pushed me to start doing videos and just get them out there”
“It’s taken me a very long time to show up on video: I was held back by perfectionism and not knowing what to post which would keep my audience entertained. I started showing up on video on Instagram and getting awareness of my brand and new service offering out there to my audience. Accelerator has helped me to recognise my videos don’t need to be perfect every single time.” – Gina Robertson, No Cap Ventures
“My biggest win has been redefining who I want to work with. Clarity leads me to focus!”
“I loved the people and having accountability. Knowing I needed to submit my homework each week was a great motivator, and I’m now blocked out 1.5 hours every Thursday for writing.” – Scott Johnson, Kung Fu Accounting
You can now choose how you’ll get your coaching: Group, or one-to-one intensive
You can join Group Accelerator and learn in a community with others, or you can apply for Accelerator Intensive, which allows you to work one to one with the PF team.
5 tips to improve your writing and improve engagement
You know what it’s like when you really connect with a piece of content. You’re engaged with a blog, you’re hanging on every word of a podcast, you’re frantically retweeting a relatable tweet.
You’ve found the answer to your question and it just clicks. A shared knowledge bomb, idea or opinion unlocks your struggle in some way. It makes you say YESSS!
You want your clients to read your blogs and have the same unlocking feeling. Imagine a prospect getting in touch for the first time because of something helpful you shared. Or a client telling you they read your blogs religiously because of the value they know they’re going to get.
You’re already doing the work and writing blogs consistently, but you want them to be great blogs that make your readers feel understood and say YES and share them with like minded friends.
1. Write to one reader
When you want to be everything to everyone, you fall into the trap of starting every blog with “Whether you’re X or Y”.
Ex. “Whether you’re self-employed or a limited company business owner…”
As a reader, this causes me to burn brain calories. In the first line of your blog, I’m already having to do the work of deciding which parts of this blog are going to be for me. At best, it’ll cause me to scroll more than I might usually and miss important points. At worst, it’ll feel too vague and nonspecific to me, and I’ll exit.
You don’t want to be everything to everyone. You want this to resonate with your very ideal clients, or a portion of your very ideal clients this topic is most relevant to.
Instead of me questioning ‘is this for me?’ you want me to say “THIS IS FOR ME”.
2. Tell stories
One way to make a point click with your reader is to tell a relatable story or share a helpful analogy. Humans by nature are storytelling, meaning-making creatures. It’s why stories last generations. Why fables help us inform us how to live our lives and co-exist with one another. Lesson learning relies on storytelling.
3. Invite the reader to think about themselves
Telling stories invites your reader to see themselves in someone else’s story.
We want to see ourselves. We’re all quite selfish when it comes to reading content, and rightly so. We’re reading for ourselves. Similarly, your readers are wrapped up in their own situations and circumstances, problems, hopes and dreams. They want to feel seen and understood.
4. Pull out your strongest point and promote it to the first line
The really strong learning, benefit, nugget of wisdom is almost always better off at the start of the blog, because it stokes desire in the reader to read on. If they’re not hooked into the real benefit of reading the blog in the first few sentences, they may never make it to your big moment at the end.
5. Teach your reader something and then tell them what to do with the learning
What do you want the reader to do once they’ve understood the learning? Now your reader knows why outsourcing their bookkeeping is better than having their receptionist do it, what can they do to put this knowledge into practice in their own life?
Share your wisdom, and then tell them what to do with it.
You can read more about each tip from Camilla in this blog!
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